Covered Beauty

Blurb

Inspirational short story about a young girl's life which got harder everyday.
Determination, hard work and prayer got her to where she wanted, but at what cost?
Aria not only lives the journey of her life but she writes about it. 7 letters, for the 7 days that brought back the memories she had 7 years ago. These 7 days had changed Aria's life.
With Aria's sister as inspiration, can Aria fight for her family? Can she save her family from the hands of the terrible Taliban soldiers?
Would you carry on no matter how hard it gets or would you just give in? Aria makes a decision, but how will her story end?

Chapter 1

7 years ago, everything seemed perfect for Aria and her family. They lived in a 2 bedroom house with a sitting area, toilet and a kitchen. They also had a little balcony where most of Aria’s favourite memories lived, surrounded by beautiful gardens and exultant faces.

This all changed the day Aria turned 9.

The family had to move from Egypt into a place they never felt safe in and for good reason. The family of 5 moved to Herat which is the largest city in Afghanistan and is based near the centre of this country.

They moved into a miniature hut house which was built with the family’s remaining life savings.

Aria was the middle child in the family and had an elder brother, Aqib as well as a 6 year old sister called Meya.

Aria’s parents, Omar and Yasmina were always hard working and supportive. But, when Omar and Yasmina lost their eldest child, Amina, times got extremely hard.

Aria’s parents spent all their savings on medical care but this wasn’t enough as Amina was severely ill and so passed away at the age of 21. The funeral costs resulted in Omar having to work extra hard but when he got laid off work, they were forced to leave.

It was different being in Afghanistan, especially for this family. Being Muslim in a country like this brought up numerous different expectations, and most of these were based on false truth.

Due to these expectations and rules, Yasmina couldn’t work so less money was being brought in for the family to live on, but they survived. For 7 years, the family managed to persist even in the unpleasant conditions they lived in. For example, the family all had to sleep in one room, travel miles to get clean water and sometimes had no money for any food.

However, one day, the family’s condition went from bad to worse. The day they’d always knew would come but didn’t expect when. The day when Taliban soldiers invaded Herat including Aria’s family home. They were sent to find more soldiers but took them as slave labourers and so overran the family, stealing Aqib and Omar as they needed male soldiers but had no authority as they took them without their consent.

They also kidnapped Yasmina and Meya in their home keeping them as ransom for their immoral needs.

Aria has always had a diary that was gifted to her when she was 8 by her elder sister, Amina to write down all her memories and experiences so that she can look back on them.

In this, she wrote down everything as if it was written to her sister. This included, her most favourite days and how they played out back when her family was happy, but little did she know she’d also write her most fearful memories as she wrote down everything that happened since this day:

Dear Amina, 6th May 2000

I know I haven’t wrote down anything in a while, nothing’s changed since the last time I wrote. But now, everything’s different. I don’t know what to do, I can’t even cry anymore. I’m not at home right now, I’m in a place that I don’t even know, and hiding from depraved people who have took away everything from me.

These people took Aqib and Father. They didn’t say anything, they just dragged them out of the house.

Mother begged me to take Meya and run but Meya wouldn’t stop crying and I thought she was behind me when I hid but she wasn’t.

These awful men tied up Meya and Mother as I hid behind the chestnut drawer and watched. I wanted to scream and run to Mother but I needed to get out of there and find help… but how could I have?

Who could I have trusted? What could I have done? I carried on hiding, whilst more horrific men came into the home. I prayed, I prayed to God. I prayed so you could know what was happening.

Lydia Walters:
I really enjoyed this novel. It gives us a view of what could be if we really tried.Also that there's nothing wrong with loving our LORD and our fellow humans. couldn't wait to get to each new chapter (mission). Thanks, Joe!

Sanjana Prasad:
The book has a thrilling plot with interesting characters. The female lead is a strong, independent woman with skeletons in her closet. The male lead is a deep man who has been wronged but always fights the world to keep going. The chemistry between the leads is amazing. I like how the author has...

William Elliott Kern:
John, first congratulations on submitting one of the best written and most creative stories of the civil war period...........This story takes place in the 1860's with an abusive Father against his new horse, later a rough patch with his Daughter Elizabeth. The war of words between the Father an...

James Lawson:
I enjoyed this so much I immediately bought (and read) the sequel from Amazon.ca - and am eagerly awaiting the third installment.Since this is a review and not a synopsis, I'll share my impressions rather than write out a condensed version of the plot.There were enough plot twists and turns to ke...

Nishant Jain:
I felt as if i am watching a movie,not reading a book. The story was definitely interesting. It was more of action than horror for me. There are a few grammatical and spelling errors I came across and at times I found it difficult to imagine some things which the author is trying to convey, but o...

Jessica:
This is a story that I could not stop reading. It is amazing how everything flowed together and what happened in this book is one that I would not have expected. Very talented author and a great read.

Jodee3596:
I really did like this story. Lacey Amanda Jones is very well written. It's a story about a girl who didn't like who she was but wasn't really sure how to change that and still get what she wants. Then there's Finn. What or who is he? Her gay BFF, some stalker guy who takes pictures of her or the...

Deleted User:
Your San Quentin episode cuts an incredible parallel to something with which I am involved. Sounds real enough. Read just the four chapters thus far. Looking forward to continuing. Roy Jenner.https://www.inkitt.com/royjennerFinished now, Great read. Well done Steve.Enjoyed it to the end.re Plot...

aaron10905:
This is undoubtedly one of the best books written on here. I actually unistalled this app until someone told me about this story. I came back not expecting much, just to be drawn into the story and the characters. I would buy this book in real life, as long as another was promised shortly after.

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